The 16th International Conference
on The First Year Experience
Building Academic Excellence
and Camaraderie through
Freshman
Seminar
Robin Brierton
Assistant Dean of Student Services
College of Business Administration
University of Illinois at Chicago
July 10, 2003
Background
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University- large, urban, Research I,
comprehensive, public, commuter
school
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Enrollment
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26,115 students
88 bachelors programs
86 masters programs
58 doctorate programs
Background
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College of Business Administration
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AACSB accredited
Enrollment
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2611 undergraduate students
806 graduate students
Ranked # 62 nationwide by U.S. News & World
Report - “ one of the most diverse and affordable
universities in the nation”
Ranked 3rd nationally in Entrepreneurship, 23 rd in
Finance, and 11th in Information Decision Sciences
programs
Assessment of Programs
The college needed a way to assess it programs and
services. The Educational Benchmarking Survey
was chosen for this task. This survey is one of the
assessment tools the college has utilized since
1998.
The benchmarking survey provides the college with
comprehensive, credible, comparable, and
confidential information to support continuous
improvement efforts.
The results and analysis helps us focus our time and
financial resources for the greatest impact.
EBI
(Educational Benchmarking
Inc.)
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Background:
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EBI was founded in 1994 to provide
benchmarking information to MBA programs. EBI
is in partnership with AACSB International. In the
spring of 2002, EBI had projects on over 500
campuses, surveying 800,000 people with better
than a 50% response rate at most institutions
( CBA had a 92% response rate last year).
The CBA participates at the undergraduate level
with the Undergraduate Business Exit Survey and
the First Year Initiative Survey.
Benchmarking
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183 Business schools participated in the
2002 Exit Survey
85 schools participated in the First Year
Initiative survey.
6 institutions are chosen as benchmarks
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By demographics, size and type of program,
ranking, urban vs. rural, commuter vs.
residential, public vs. private, and location.
Results are given so that each institution’s
confidentiality is guaranteed
The Exit Survey
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70 Questions surveying student satisfaction
regarding:
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Instruction and Faculty
Curriculum
Skill Development
Administration and Support Services
Classmates
Career Services
Course Comparison and
Overall Satisfaction
The First Year Initiative
Survey
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70 Questions Covering 15 Factors and their effect on:
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Study Strategies
Academic/Cognitive Skills
Critical Thinking
Connections with Faculty and Peers
Out of Class Engagement
Knowledge of Campus Policies, Academic Services, and Wellness
Managing Time/Priorities
Sense of Belonging/Acceptance
Satisfaction with the College/ or University
Usefulness of Course Readings, Engaging Pedagogy, and overall
course effectiveness
Priority MatrixFactor and Regression Analysis
Maintain
Performance
Low Impact,
High Performance
Monitor
Low Impact,
Low Performance
Maintain or
Improve
High Impact,
High Performance
Top Priority
High Impact,
Low Performance
Impact on Overall Satisfaction
Why Build Camaraderie?
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One of our top impact predictors to improve overall
student satisfaction was to improve camaraderie.
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Our Retention Committee and research showed that one
of the top reasons students leave campus is due to a
lack of a sense of community or belonging on campus.
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BA 100 was the optimal course to infuse these concepts.
All new freshmen take the course and the greatest
impact for effort should be demonstrated by greater
retention, graduation, and academic performance rates.
The Re-engineering of
Business Administration
100
 Old Model
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Large lecture style
Progressed to large lecture with small
discussion sections
Met for first half of semester
The Re-engineering of
Business Administration
100
 New Model
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Limit Class size to 25 students per section
Class meets once per week for entire first semester
Required for graduation
Case Management
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Professional Academic Advisors teach the class and their
students become their freshmen advisees
Students that might be shy about reaching out for help
see their advisor every week for the first semester on
campus
More Interactive, less lecture
Connections, Connections,
Connections
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Dean’s Welcome
Meeting with Academic Advisor
Meeting with Career Advisor
Meet with Each Professor
Reflective Exercise with Assistant Dean
Attend at least one campus activity
Group Research Project
Open House- games, fun, student organizations
On Campus Scavenger Hunt
College of Business Administration
Retention and Academic Performance Results
1999
2002
1 semester retention rate
85.6%
91.8%
Left in good standing after 1 semester
7.91%
3.6%
Dropped for academic reasons after 1 semester
7.6%
1.1%
Average GPA at the end of 1st semester
3.67
3.93
Six Year Graduation Rate
50.1%
63.6%
Percent of students who felt that BA 100
helped their adjustment to UIC
(surveyed 1 year after class)
63%
92%
Camaraderie of Classmates
4.82
4.97
Questions?
Robin Brierton
Assistant Dean of Student Services
College of Business Administration
University of Illinois at Chicago
312-413-8613
[email protected]